


The Girl Lost in Time

by Kuuinimei



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s10e03 Thin Ice, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, but without bill potts, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 23:10:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13867974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuuinimei/pseuds/Kuuinimei
Summary: The Doctor goes back to the Regency era to celebrate once again the last Frost Fair all by himself until he meets an unusual girl who doesn't fit with anyone and anywhere no matter how hard she tries to blend in, and all she wanted is to go home.Where? Wrong question. When?[A Twelfth Doctor fanfiction, also posted in Wattpad]





	The Girl Lost in Time

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, people of the AO3 community! This is the first time I'm going to post a story here on this site and I hope whoever reads this is going to like it! I update once in a while and I haven't reached the end yet so please be patient!

**1**

It is another chilly December day for Astra, who happens to travel to River Thames by foot just to entertain herself watching the preparation of the townspeople for the upcoming Frost Fair next week, Wednesday. She plans to stay for at least an hour with her friend, Ginny, who is going to participate at the fair by doing sword tricks. She wore another coat to withstand the unusual cold weather they are having today.

            She stepped outside of her modest home in the middle of the bustling streets of London. Some people gossip on how a young girl her age acquired such neat house in London without a husband with her, no one knows how and no one dared to ask. It still remains a mystery. Even with her house better than the people living around her neighborhood, she belongs to the working class. And somehow, she has the ability to pay her taxes whenever a tax collector showed up at her doorstep.

            Looking around, Astra took a deep breath and exhaled greatly making a small amount of mist around her face. She stretched her arms and feet making her feel much more relaxed than she was inside her house.

            _Ah, fresh air._

            She strode around the market first in hopes of discovering good deals of perishable goods this week, yet she haven’t found any. Much to her dismay, it was either out of stock or none at all. Above that, whilst finding something to buy she was shoved back and forth by people who are greedily finding fresh vegetables, meat or fruits that they can purchase and cook savory dishes for their family or masters.

            _For some reason, there are too many people outdoors today despite the cold weather,_ she thought.

            Leaving the busy marketplace disappointed, frowning to those people who are fighting over food, leaving the goods in disarray, she finally head towards her original destination, River Thames. It is been a while since she has yet to meet Ginny again. He only visits London whenever his group has a scheduled show. They have at least talked personally two or three times ever since Astra’s first frost fair.

            _I’ve been from Devonshire and moved to London in hopes of getting a better job,_ she lied to Ginny, which bought her seemingly convincing lie as she described further a fictional rich young man to help her start her life anew in London alone. But in reality, she pulled this out all by herself. It is uncommon and peculiar for a girl to own an estate especially a young missus.

            She slowly absorbed her surroundings, gazing at the brick houses she passes by. It’s been a year since she first moved here and she still can’t help but to be amazed by the architecture of various buildings. Brick red, white, or beige, the colors of the establishments are aesthetically pleasing to her eye. The bluish hue and dull contrast of her surroundings made her relaxed amidst the horde of people and load of carriages she come by to face in the busy and noisy streets of London. She gripped her coats tighter, closer around her as she felt the cold slowly creeping in her clothing and clutching to her skin, replacing her body heat.

            Even though she was warmly welcomed by the community, not shying her away because she has no patriarchal figure with her- some are still suspicious of her just popping up out of nowhere- she still does not feel in place, like something is missing, a part of her is missing. Adjusting to this kind of life was not easy for her after all and until now, she is still adapting. Sometimes, she gets insomnia and most times she wakes up at an unusual time like 3 in the morning. Such a harsh environment despite the welcoming crowd, youngsters are forced to hard physical labor, girls and young women depend on men by marriage. Redcoats constantly patrolling the streets, cautiously marching around waiting for trouble to come. They normally stop a riot forming and rarely chasing a robber or worse, a killer. This is not the type of environment Astra wanted at all.

            She finally reached Thames and stopped for a while to get a breather. The river is frozen thick, frozen for at least three days already. Her house is three blocks away from the river and she took the long way around to check out the marketplace. As she found a place to sit and rest on a nearby bar, she looked around the busy crowd trying to put up their own tents and stalls, trying to look for her dear sword swallowing friend. She brushed off her seat lightly to remove some snow covering the bench and gently sat down. She always took note of his dress, if she sees a guy flinging around a long and sharp rapier wearing flamboyant clothing, that’s him. She chuckled at the thought of him doing a bad impression of a French accent while performing in front of a crowd. Dear lord, her laughter can be heard by a hundred men when she first heard his witty commentary of swallowing a weapon at the fair. Some men can be also seen drinking alcohol, specifically beer and getting drunk while busy organizing their respective places. They clumsily hammered nails onto the thick ice of the river and they’re mostly missing, hitting their fingers instead resulting to injury. While they’re working, she can clearly hear their slurred singing clearly from her position.

            As she was about to stand up, a man sat beside her. She got a bit startled by the sudden appearance of the man. The man noticed this and apologized, “Oh, have I disturbed you madam? I am terribly sorry I shall leave you at-“

            “No, no, no. I-it’s fine, really,” she responded shyly. She felt her cheeks got hotter. He noticed her blushing. Her gaze lingered to the man beside her, lasted way longer than it should be. He is apparently a man of a higher class based on his noble garb. The top hat and the black frock coat gave it away. The man is clearly of old age, his face showing his wrinkles and his wavy grey locks peeking under his hat. His strong facial features especially his eyebrows and strikingly blue eyes left an impression to the young girl.

            _Aged like a fine wine,_ she dreamily thought. _Oh, what am I thinking?!_

            “Hey!” he called her out, trying to snap her out of trance. He tried snapping his fingers in front of her yet she still stared at him. She finally came back to her senses when he started shaking her. “Oh, hey, what? Oh! I’m sorry sir,” she apologized, embarrassed being caught staring at him.

            “Why are you staring at me?” he asked as his brows furrowed.

            “I um, ah…” she started while thinking of a decent answer. The man just observed her, waiting for a response.

            “I’m sorry, that was so rude of me. I’ll just excuse myself,” she awkwardly said and proceeded to clumsily straighten her coat and stood up.

            _That damned hair got me into trouble!_

“You sure you don’t want to stay for a cup of hot cocoa?” the man tried to persuade the young lady. Again, she was surprised by him. The offer of a hot cocoa going down her dry throat is tempting to fight the chilly weather. She thought of declining it, but a cup of cocoa wouldn’t hurt her, would it?

            She smiled at the man and accepted his offer. He gave her back a smile, too. It was a pleasant experience for Astra to have someone inviting her to drink a hot cocoa, which is incredibly expensive for the working class and only few have the power to purchase a drink that could make them warm on the inside without ending up drunk. She could already smell the aroma already. She stayed on her position after declining him to drink inside the bar, she waited patiently for him to purchase inside and after a while, her much awaited drink is finally here. He got back sitting beside her and told her different stories, interesting and detailed stories. Some seem out of this world but she pretty much understands some of it. He even told her all of those were true, she simply shrugged it off as a joke.

            Their long conversation came to an abrupt end when someone screamed out Astra’s name from the fair, it was the friend she’s been looking for, Ginny. Her face lit up at the sight of him and gave him a beaming smile. He gave her a friendly wave and she waved back. He signaled her to come by right after.

            “That must be your friend that you’ve been looking for,” he told her and she gave a nod in response.

            “I must be going then, it was nice talking to you,” he politely said and rose from his seat, holding his top hat to his chest. Astra rose from her seat too, “Thank you for spending your precious time, sir…”

            “The Doctor, madam,” he finally introduced. She raised an eyebrow when he heard his name.

            “A screen name, perhaps?” she asked, forgetting she _shouldn’t_ say those kind of words at this period of time. And that, the Doctor became immediately suspicious of the girl. Those words weren’t supposed to mean something together, not until the age of advanced technology. The Doctor pretended not to understand it, “Screen name?” he asked. “Uh, sorry about the question, never mind,” she shrugged off her question. He gave her an exaggerated perplexed look. She chuckled on how amusing the face the Doctor pulled off.

            “I’m Astra,” she introduced, extending her right hand to him. “Nice to meet you, Astra, what a lovely name,” he said as he gripped her fragile, cold and petite hand with his bony one, hidden under his glove, taking the glove off first as a sign of courtesy, he gave her a firm handshake. She smiled at the gentleman’s comment about her name.

            And there she goes, to her dear friend she last saw a year ago. The Doctor silently watches her from afar. He watched her slip here and there on the ice whilst her friend laughing, approaching her slowly to try and help her get up. He has found again another mystery to solve. Is she worth it though? For the Doctor, she wholly is.

            He took a breather from their quite exhausting talk and relished the breathtaking view of the lively throng busy setting up for the fair on the River Thames. Every once in a while he just observes humankind in the shadows for a time, just watching them doing their normal routines. It made him stray away from his ‘humans are pudding brains’ mindset. Despite how far the humankind are in progress compared with the time lords, the Doctor never thought of them lowly and he has an unconditional love for their kind and will do anything to protect the planet. And somewhere out there, he knows there are people with great potential that can change everything for the better good just waiting to be found, and he already found one.

 

            “Thank you, Ginny,” she said after laughing at her own misery. She can’t even stand and got some bruises and scratches from her numerous falls, “No problem and please next time, don’t come running on ice when you see me. You look weird flailing your arms like that.”

            “Wow, says the man who swallows weapons for a living.”

            “At least THAT’S entertaining and amazing to watch, plus it gives you money. Do you think watching a person wagging around will give you coins?!”

            “Give me something dangerous to handle with while I waggle around and let us see what will happen.”

            “I expect a bloody nightmare, especially with you performing. Remember when I tried to teach you how to balance a pot on your head?”

            “Don’t make me remember it.”

            “You broke bloody twenty clay pots! I paid a pound for that!”

            “At least I tried.”

            “But you didn’t learn!”

            And their endless bickering did not stop as Ginny escorted her to a tent nearby and put her down on a comfy spot. He left her for a while and came back with some alcohol and cloth in hand. Both became quiet for a moment while he dampen the cloth with alcohol and kneeled in front of her to treat her wounds. She hissed every time the damp cloth stung as Ginny gently pat her wounds one by one. As she was treated, she could feel the cold yet gentle breeze from outside, silently blowing away the covers of the tent. She saw a glimpse of the man she’d converse with earlier, walking away from the bench they stayed. For some reason, he had this outlandish vibe that she felt the whole time they were talking yet he looks completely normal.

            Another sting from her wound made her come back to her senses, she can’t help but yelp.

            “Be a bit gentler please?” she hissed, furrowing her eyebrows and looking down at Ginny with irritation. He laughed, “Well pardon me, I’m just trying to aid you.”

            “Ginny!” a girl suddenly busted in the tent, having us completely surprised. Ginny almost spilled the alcohol beside him. I, on the other hand, almost kicked him out of terror. The girl looked distressed and took a couple of breaths before she continued to speak, “Have you seen Lonnie?”

            “I have not. I have only seen him earlier when he was occupied on unloading our luggage,” he replied, obviously looking anxious. “Why are you looking for him anyway?”

            “I haven’t seen him since we arrive, the fair starts at a few hours and I can’t find him anywhere.”

            “Maybe he is somewhere out there in pubs, busy getting drunk or getting the ladies, you know him, he is always like that.”

            “But he’s not the type to completely abandon his job especially if he is needed as soon as possible!” she sighed, “Well, if you’ve seen him, please inform me.”

            “I will, Susan. Now, go back to your job.”

            The girl finally exited the tent to mind her own business while Ginny went back on cleaning her wounds. He looked agitated but he didn’t want Astra to see it. A shroud of silence completely envelops the tent. His body became tense and his pats became a little harsher but she doesn’t want to call him out for that. She felt he would snap anytime soon. The two never spoken a word until he finished his first aid.

            “Thanks again, Ginny,” she gave him a nice smile. “No problem,” he smiled back weakly.

 

            Astra stood silently in front of the tent she was recently resting to watch her friend perform. His performance is one of the most popular at the fair, just behind the enormous elephant they parade on ice. Everyone loves to watch the elephant, except when the ice starts to give up and cracks beneath them. Thank god, it never happened… yet. She noticed there’s a change on Ginny’s aura, he had less confidence than he usually has and his commentaries are not as much as funny compared to the previous ones.

            _Poor George, where could his friend go?_ She thought. After a few hours, they couldn’t find him anywhere but they can’t cancel the show so they proceeded without him instead.

            She drooped her head down as a surge of tiredness ran through her body and she felt the need to sleep for a long period of time. Two hours of dozing off isn’t enough for her. As interesting as the fair is, her dreams were much more interesting and probably the most riveting and bizarre dream she ever had for a while.  She dreamt about a blue box and a man suddenly opens the door, a blindingly light shone behind him. He did not stepped out of the blue box, he just simply extends his right hand to her and uttered the words, “Come with me,” without any voice coming out from him. She can’t remember the blurry face she had clearly saw in her dream anymore, she didn’t hear his voice either. All she remembers is a blue box. She remembered reaching out to him and grabbing his hand.

            _But why his hand felt strangely familiar?_ She thought. She wanted to go back to the dream world just to see him again. _Wow, pretty lights._ She nonchalantly thought when she saw circular lights illuminating beneath her feet, hasty with their flashy movements.

            _It remember seeing lights like this on a party I’ve once attended in LA._

            “Wait a second…” she muttered. “No one uses these kind of lights in this period!” she exclaimed. She tried to follow one of the lights that moves around in top speed but Astra barely caught up with the lights and lost sight of them. She sighed with disappointment. She felt her wounds sore as she made rash movements earlier. She gave up the search and decided to sit down on a nearby chair. She realized she missed half of Ginny’s performance after being distracted by the strange lights. She sighed at regret for not supporting her friend on his first day.

            _Worry not, he still has two more days to perform again,_ she thought as she filled herself with hope she could fully support him tomorrow.

 

            Astra asked him to escort her to her home as it was getting late, very, very late. Good thing people are celebrating for the whole day, they leave torches ablaze outside. Astra still felt weak even though Ginny is supporting her. The cold is getting into her, she could feel her hands tremble and hear her teeth chatter uncontrollably. It made Ginny concerned. “Are you okay being alone in your house tonight? You don’t feel and look good,” he asked him with an obvious tone of worry. “I’m going to be fine, George. I just need to lay down on my comfy bed and I’ll be well,” she responded with assurance.

            “Comfy? What do you mean by that?”

_Oh shoot, I slipped again._

            “I meant comfortable, I cannot wait to lay down on my comfortable bed. Oh, how I yearn to absorb its warmth…” she tried to evade his question. It worked. They finally reached her house and Astra fumbled for her keys in her coat pockets and unlocked the door once she got a hold of it. “Thanks again, Ginny. I’ve thank you numerous times today already,” she told him before they go their separate ways. “You are always welcome, Astra. I have never had a friend like you before. And do not ever feel indebted, just seeing you and being around your presence is enough for me,” he remarked and beamed a smile at the young girl. Astra cannot believe what she just heard, her mouth was left agape at the kind words Ginny uttered to her. She felt her cheeks gone hot as she thought about the praise he gave her, but she suddenly had second thoughts maybe all he’d said was just plain flattery. But there’s something she had noticed in his hazel brown eyes, sincerity. A glimmer of profound admiration can be seen. There’s no mistake Astra already observed his subtle affection he has for her at times when they meet or at times when they send each other letters. She can feel each word was carefully thought of and handpicked thoroughly and his neat cursive penmanship left her in awe and on edge every time she reads his letters. Astra could’ve praise George right here and now and she won’t stop until sunrise.

            Deep in thought, she was snapped back to reality as she felt a warm air near her face. It took her mere seconds to realize it was the breath of dear Ginny going in for a kiss. As she now realize what is going on, she quickly thinks of a plan to get out of this awkward situation she is in the most polite manner before his lips connect with hers.

            “Uh, how was Lonnie? You know, that guy the young lady inquired a while ago?” George halted leaning suddenly. He opened his eyes and realizing he embarrassed himself in front of her. He briskly fixed his posture and cleared his throat before answering, “Unfortunately, he is nowhere to be found. We will still continue our search tomorrow if we have the time. God, I hope he is alright.”

            “I really hope so, especially at these times, there are rumors about people disappearing ‘nother after another. No one knows how, why, and when will another one vanish.”

_Probably I should’ve kept that to myself. Great, Astra. What have you done?_

            Ginny’s expression changed into a distressed one, looking obviously disturbed about what Astra told him. “I’m sorry for telling you that. I thought you should know it since it has been a big deal recently and I want you to be aware of your surroundings.”

            “Thanks for the concern, Astra. I will be more vigilant from now on. I shall also warn my mates about this. Although, this will not stop our search for Lonnie. He was one of our dearest leaders…” he trailed off, he cannot stop thinking the worst case scenario has dawned upon his good friend. Now, he has to try his best to shrug it off to avoid panic attacks but he knows he will not be sleeping tonight because he cannot. It’s because of two things- Lonnie’s disappearance and his hasty move on Astra. He regrets he had lost control of himself.

            The two bid goodbyes at each other and Astra proceeded to close the door while Ginny heads back to Thames where his tent stood. The faint moonlight seeping through her windows cast a pale light enough for her to see inside her little home. She grabbed the candle near the fireplace along with the matches beside it. She lighted the candle first. She placed it down near the fireplace to let her see the remaining stock of wood she has. Plenty. Astra threw some pieces on the fireplace and threw a lit match afterwards. The surge of warmth calmed Astra down as the fire cackled and danced. She then proceeded to get her linen strips hidden in one of her drawers and bandaged her wounds.

            She can finally sleep once again.


End file.
